SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Amazon's Jeff Bezos, two of the world's richest men, are at war in front of federal regulators over plans for mega-constellations of satellite internet of their companies.
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos spar over satellite internet projects
As Elon Musk works to persuade Federal Communications Commission officials to allow SpaceD to move some of its Starlink and lower altitudes than the initial plan, he took to Twitter on Tuesday. Starlink was the name of SpaceX's objective in building an interconnected internet network with nearly 12,000 satellites made to deliver high-speed internet wherever on the planet.
According to CNBC, in October, there were more than 1,000 satellites in orbit that SpaceX started a public beta program. The initial service is priced at $99 per month, plus a $499 upfront cost to order the Starlink Kit, including a Wi-Fi router and a user terminal to connect to the satellites.
Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been among the companies that disputed SpaceX's request defending that the modification would interfere with other satellites. Amazon works on its own satellite internet named Project Kuiper.
The company is planning to launch 3,236 internet satellites to low Earth orbit: a system that would be complete with Starlink. In December, Amazon passed a critical early hardware milestone for the antennas it requires to connect to the network. However, it has yet to start launching or producing its satellites.
Read also: Elon Musk to Throw $100 Million Prize for Twitter Followers with 'Best' Carbon Capture Tech
In July, the FCC authorized Amazon's proposal for Kuiper, which the company claims it will invest over $10 billion for building the plan. SpaceX's and Amazon's satellite networks were ambitious projects, with both companies saying network cost could be nearly $10 billion or more to build.
However, SpaceX estimates that Starlink could bring in as much as $30 billion per year or more than ten times its rocket business's annual revenue. Earlier this month, the company expanded its beta program, including customers in Canada and the United Kingdom. SpaceX looks to expand Starlink access internationally massively. Its public records show that SpaceX is registered in Argentina, Australia, Austria, France, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Greece, Colombia, Ireland, Mexico, Italy, The Netherlands, Philippines, New Zealand, Spain, and South Africa.
According to Daily Mail, there has been no love lost between the two tech titans for more than a decade as they go head-to-head on different projects, including the missions in sending tourists into space. Over some of Amazon's business ventures, Elon Musk branded Jeff Bezos a 'copycat' while Bezos mocked Musk's plan in sending humans to Mars, as per Mail.
This year, the CEOs even became rivals through their bank balances when Elon Musk briefly stole Bezos's title of being the world's richest man as he reached a net worth of $182.9 billion, but Bezos quickly regained it.
Read also: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Regains World's Richest Person Title, Replacing Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Jeff Bezos claims Starlink requested changes would be harmful
Amazon declared in a statement, "The facts are simple. We designed the Kuiper System to avoid interference with Starlink, and now SpaceX wants to change the design of its system."
The online retail giant claims that the requested changes would create a more dangerous environment for space collisions and will increase radio interference for clients, Gizmodo reported. Bezos said it's clear that SpaceX's interest to smother competition in the cradle, but it certainly is not in the public's interest. "Despite what SpaceX posts on Twitter, it is SpaceX's proposed changes that would hamstring competition among satellite systems," the company added.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk responded in a tweet explaining that the changes would not serve the public to hamstring Starlink for an Amazon satellite system that has been at its best operation several years away.
Read also: Trump to Go Back to Facebook; Some Juries Might Not Let Him
